I almost missed this. Such is the state of my inbox at the moment that I’m desperately trying to keep somewhere in touch with, that this for several days, passed me by. Until last night when I listened to the single Kingmaker. And listened again. and then again. I’m still listening to it now in fact. Turns out it was a single release from sometime last year, but that didn’t stop the band (or at least the bands ‘people’) sending it to me, and it’s not going to stop me writing about it. Besides, we didn’t even exist last year.
Turns out Brooklyn’s Dead Leaf Echo are Ana B.-Guitar on Keys and vocals, LG on Guitar and Vocals, and drummer Kevin K. Getting together in 2006 and describing themselves as ‘an art project’, they have honed their craft through a handful of single and ep releases. Now they’ve released debut album ‘Thought and Language’ last month, their influences clearly on display not least with the front cover of the record, designed by V23’s Vaughan Oliver, who’s wrked in the past with The Pixes and Bauhaus, amongst others.
lisaRight from the off, with those chiming guitars, the song swims in 4AD waters, the waves of guitars and vocals lapping against your ears. Its like watching the ghosts of Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine and The Cocteau Twins haunt the present. And I mention those bands without shame, because the point of this whole (most rambling, I grant you) article is it’s that good. It stands up against those that influenced it on its own two feet. And surely that’s the biggest compliment I can pay it.
Check out (and buy) the album here, I know I will be doing. After I’ve checked out some more of my Inbox. Just in case….
http://www.deadleafechonyc.com
http://www.twitter.com/deadleafecho
http://www.soundcloud.com/deadleafecho
